Denise Kronstadt, background at podium, deputy executive director/ director of advocacy for The Fund for Modern Courts, testifies during a public hearing of the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, held at the New York State Court of Appeals on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Denise Kronstadt, background at podium, deputy executive director/ director of advocacy for The Fund for Modern Courts, testifies during a public hearing of the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, ... more

Timothy O'Sullivan with Lawyers Fund for Client Protection, testifies during a public hearing of the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, held at the New York State Court of Appeals on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Timothy O'Sullivan with Lawyers Fund for Client Protection, testifies during a public hearing of the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, held at the New York State Court of Appeals on Tuesday, July ... more

Peter James Johnson, Jr. a member of the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, addresses those gathered for the start of a public hearing of the commission, held at the New York State Court of Appeals on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Peter James Johnson, Jr. a member of the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, addresses those gathered for the start of a public hearing of the commission, held at the New York State Court of Appeals on ... more

Devika Kewalramani, a member of the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, asks a question during a public hearing of the commission, held at the New York State Court of Appeals on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less

Devika Kewalramani, a member of the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, asks a question during a public hearing of the commission, held at the New York State Court of Appeals on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, ... more

The head of a state agency that reimburses the victims of crooked lawyers wants the state to disbar any attorney who engages in theft.

Timothy J. O'Sullivan, executive director of The Lawyers Fund for Client Protection, also proposed random audits on lawyers across the state to ensure honesty and prevent attorneys from stealing their clients' money.

"Lawyers who steal should be disbarred," O'Sullivan said Tuesday, while testifying before the Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline at the Court of Appeals. The commission was put together by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman to review the state's disciplinary system for lawyers and to examine if improvements are needed.

O'Sullivan said the trustees of the Lawyers Fund recommend a new uniform disciplinary policy statewide requiring disbarment as the penalty for any lawyer who injures a client by intentionally converting escrow funds. And he said prosecutors should receive a prompt referral when disciplinary committees have uncontested evidence or an admission of theft by a lawyer of stealing clients' money.

"Such a policy will deliver a strong message to victims, the public and to lawyers about the administration of justice in New York state," O'Sullivan said.

In the last six months alone, O'Sullivan testified, the Lawyers Fund made 64 payments totaling $1.5 million to reimburse the thefts of personal injury settlements involving two now-disbarred Manhattan attorneys, Steven Krawitz and Donald B. Rosenberg, whose wrongdoings were not detected by existing safeguards. He said more payments are still to come.

"These lawyers were able to conceal their thefts by offering excuses and explaining away their delay without paying clients their net settlement proceeds," Sullivan told the panel. "A random audit program may have deterred, detected, prevented these losses caused by these two lawyers which will now likely result in about $3 million in awards from the Lawyers Fund. The lingering but unfortunate experience for the clients may also have been preventable."

The commission, which also will hold hearings in New York City and Buffalo, included Peter James Johnson Jr., who chairs the committee on character and fitness for the Manhattan-based First Department; Devika Kewalramani, who chairs the New York City Bar Association's committee on professional discipline; prominent Manhattan attorney Mark Zauderer; Cornell Law School professor W. Bradley Wendel; Robert Guido, executive director for attorney matters for the Brooklyn-based Second Department and Monica Duffy, chief attorney for the Committee of Professional Standards within the 3rd Department, based in Albany, which covers 28 counties.

Albany County Bar Association President Janet Silver and New York State Bar Association President David P. Miranda, who both testified, declined to comment on O'Sullivan's proposals.

Silver testified that she would be supportive of a statewide disciplinary committee, which she said would help create a "consistent process, efficiencies in the system and ensure the public is being protected." She did express concerns about unfounded complaints against lawyers becoming public and hurting the reputations of attorneys to maintain a practice.

At present, attorney discipline cases are investigated by grievance committees within the state's four regional Appellate Division departments. The Appellate Division justices would then mete out any discipline that follows.

Miranda testified that New York is one of a small minority of states that provides "little or no discovery" (pretrial evidence) to lawyers accused of wrongdoing in its disciplinary process.

"As you know, affording due process to anyone accused of wrongdoing is certainly a fundamental requirement of our legal system," Miranda testified. "And despite some reports to the contrary, lawyers are people too."